Sony closes USA and Canada ebook store

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by sharphamster

If Kobo can apply their own DRM thru sync (My HD is not ADE activated) and they'll be upgrading their site/software to accommodate Sony devices, could they bypass ADE 3 and use their own?

*Disclaimer*
I have no clue if this is even possible/probable, or what would be involved on the software engineering side. Just woke up in an optimistic mood today.

AFAIK anyone (vender/publisher) can use another form of DRM. And no one has to use Adobe. They can sell through Amazon or Kobo or go DRM free. Adobe sells a service and their customers are the ones who decide if they will buy it. The end user is a potential customer of Adobe's customers.

The only reason to use Adobe, is that it is already in place at many venders, works as good as any AFAIK, and Overdrive (libraries) uses it.

I doubt Adobe will actually force anyone to change to the new DRM. My feeling is that libraries are a big source of their income. My understanding is that libraries pay the 22 cents for each new loan so each book could generate $10+ a year as opposed to the one time fee for a book sale. Multiply that by 10,000+ books by a thousand libraries and you are talking serious money. Could be mistaken though.

Venders could force a change on each or all of their books if they felt that the added protection was worth it or new enhanced features were worth it. I would think they will proceed cautiously because they could lose the business of millions? of customers with older readers, although some may leap at it expecting people will buy new readers or use tablets. Time will tell.

Helen

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

This is not so. If you download a book and it's encrypted using the new DRM scheme, that's it. You'll only have it available in the new DRM scheme. ADE 3.0 cannot convert it to the old DRM scheme for older devices.

Therein lies a nasty monster waiting to awake and take over the world with its unreasonable demands.

[Phil_C]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Therein lies a nasty monster waiting to awake and take over the world with its unreasonable demands.

Long live Alf, the Dragon Slayer!

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Phil_C

Long live Alf, the Dragon Slayer!

It really is a problem for library books though. That whole "token" for a book thing was too complicated for me to bother with when one of the library books was available ONLY in epub. I "downloaded" the "book" only it was a "token" that had to go through adobe's procedure. I thought I'd just be able to read it because I have a couple of epub "readers" for PC. But noooo. I'd have to download adobes whatever and then figure out how to read it. Of course, I didn't bother.

I read somewhere on mobileread that I could around it, but egads. Would probably have taken me longer to get the dang thing loaded somewhere than to read the actual book. Wasn't worth it. I moved on to something else.

The whole reason e-books finally took off was because it was EASY. I guess Adobe doesn't get that.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

The whole reason e-books finally took off was because it was EASY. I guess Adobe doesn't get that.

I think it is more the publishers who don't get it. Adobe would not have done DRM for ePubs if the publishers hadn't insisted on it.

I wish Tor would publish an update on their experience with going DRM-free. It's been well over a year now.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

To be fair to Adobe, the current change doesn't affect your already-purchased ebooks. You will continue to be able to read them on your existing devices and on any devices that use the new DRM. New devices using the new DRM with also still be able to read the older DRM.

Of course, this might not be the case after another five years.

What it will affect is newly purchased ebooks. At some point (undetermined, but probably withing the year), new ebooks will be forced to use the new DRM and will be unreadable on older devices, unless they get a firmware upgrade.

It does affect your already purchased books if you don't have them downloaded though, right? My mother only has what she's currently reading on her reader. If she wanted to read something again or hadn't read it yet it would download with the new drm and she wouldn't be able to read it anymore. I told her hubby to download everything for her just in case. A lot of people leave their stuff in the cloud trusting that it will always be there.

[BearMountainBooks]

For the MOST part, I download, read once and don't care. BUT there are always those special books that I might, indeed, pick up and want to read again. Only a handful, but they tend to be expensive books--Briggs, Ilona Andrews and the like. But I wouldn't want to have to "re-buy" even the less expensive books like a Frank Tuttle. I've already bought them once and they are good enough to read twice. I can see I'm going to have to get organized and start figuring out as I read which ones are worth "saving."

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Thanks! I'm not sure I want a front light so that will probably play in the decision. Then again, my kindle doesn't have one, so perhaps I should get one...

I love my Glo's front light. It's much better than using a bedside lamp, as I've been reminded in the past few days while reading some physical books. I don't have to read at awkward angles to avoid shadows, for one thing; I can sit up, prop myself up on an elbow, lie on my back...whatever is comfortable. It's also really handy on the road; I go out with my mother once a week so we can both get our shopping done, and I usually end up getting back to the car well before she does. (Ever tried reading a paperback in a parking lot at night?) It comes in handy before a movie or concert, too - when the house lights are dim but the show hasn't started.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

I love my Glo's front light. It's much better than using a bedside lamp, as I've been reminded in the past few days while reading some physical books. I don't have to read at awkward angles to avoid shadows, for one thing; I can sit up, prop myself up on an elbow, lie on my back...whatever is comfortable. It's also really handy on the road; I go out with my mother once a week so we can both get our shopping done, and I usually end up getting back to the car well before she does. (Ever tried reading a paperback in a parking lot at night?) It comes in handy before a movie or concert, too - when the house lights are dim but the show hasn't started.

Some good points. Every one of them valid. The lamp by my chair is often contrary. So a light would come in handy.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

It does affect your already purchased books if you don't have them downloaded though, right? My mother only has what she's currently reading on her reader. If she wanted to read something again or hadn't read it yet it would download with the new drm and she wouldn't be able to read it anymore. I told her hubby to download everything for her just in case. A lot of people leave their stuff in the cloud trusting that it will always be there.

The way it's been explained, the big factor during the transitional period is how the book was first downloaded. If that's to an old reader, you get the old DRM. If it's to a new reader (including ADE 3.0) and the new DRM is turned on at the server, you get the new DRM and never get the old DRM.

[ProfCrash]

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

The way it's been explained, the big factor during the transitional period is how the book was first downloaded. If that's to an old reader, you get the old DRM. If it's to a new reader (including ADE 3.0) and the new DRM is turned on at the server, you get the new DRM and never get the old DRM.

So then people who have an older e-reader that they want to continue to use should set the older e-reader as their primary e-reader for downloads to ensure that they get the older DRM.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

So then people who have an older e-reader that they want to continue to use should set the older e-reader as their primary e-reader for downloads to ensure that they get the older DRM.

That's my take, yes.

[benham]

Originally Posted by ReadTillYouBleed

I've seen it said that batteries degrade over time even if a device is not used. If that were actually the case, even an unused PRS-505 could have a somewhat weakened battery, and then a newer battery might be a better choice.

Good point. That is probably what happened with mine because it had been very reliable.

[yekim54]

Originally Posted by yekim54

I still have one old $25 Sony gift card. When I got the email about the Sony Reader Store closing, I decided I'd better redeem that card. But the Reader Store would not accept the card number or PIN. I called Sony, gave them the card number and PIN. They said the card was still valid and I should just keep trying to enter it until it gets accepted. I explained I already tried 8 times on two different computers using both the store web site and through the Reader software, but no joy. Finally the customer service rep "escalated it to the billing department" and said they will add $25 credit to my account ... we'll see if it happens before the store closes on March 20.

UPDATE: Kudos to Sony. They did deposit my old $25 gift card to my account and I was able to successfully purchase an ebook today.

[banjobama]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

The death of their store doesn't bug me, since it has been years since I bought there, but the hardware was always great. The problem was that they pretty much gave up. They didn't compete on price, and they stopped trying to compete on features. When the Nook Glowlight came out, and the Paperwhite, Sony released the nonlighted T2. That was pretty much the nail in the coffin. Most people didn't want to pay more money for fewer features.

Right!? I LOVE my PRS-650. It's been my constant companion for years. It reads both epub and LRF (which I still like). I had the case I especially wanted shipped to the US from England for it. It's still the perfect reader for me. When the battery fails, which I assume will be its downfall unless I drop it or get it wet, I'm ordering this. Looks easy enough, when you care for your ebook reader as personally as I care for mine.

That said, I haven't bought a book from the Sony store in AT LEAST 3 years, and I have no opinion whatsoever on their closing. I'm lucky to have access to great public libraries, and the Mobileread library. I have so much I want to read that if a book isn't available from those places that I have free access to, I just move on to the next.